his whole Life and who also humbled himself to death even the death of the Cross And we are to be like him meek and humble Reflect The undeserved Favours of Almighty God The Ingratitude of our repeated sins The behaviour of the poor Publican The Example of our Lord himself Great Lessons of Humility Saturday Of the Advantage of being Christians We live under the Covenant of Grace which is founded in Remission of sin and upon promises of eternal rewards to the observers of it who are also enabled to observe it We are redeemed from all our Enemies so as not to fear them Death it self being now only a Passage to immortality Are we not also made Sons of God Members of Christ Kings and Priests and Coâ—heirs with our Elder Brother of an Eternal Inheritance Sunday Of the Benefits of the Holy Ghost By him who was sent by our Saviour we are begotten and born again and made new creatures By him Illuminated to understand the Mysteries of our Redemption By him the Love of God is spread abroad in our hearts so as to love even our Enemies for God's sake He purifies and cleanses us from all filthiness He Interceeds for us and teaches us how to pray He comforts and supports us in all our afflictions with his peace and joy He is the Seal of the Divine Promises and the Foretaste of Heaven The great power of God in us over Sacan and all his Instruments And by his Vertue and Efficacy our Bodies also will be Spiritualized and we raised to Immortality and Glory Reflect This Comforter abides with us for ever and is grieved when-ever we do any thing to chase him from us To these few Heads of Meditation taken chiefly out of Holy Scripture might be added infinite more concerning God's Attributes Gifts Miracles c. with innumerable more passages both of the Old and New Testament but these are thought sufficient to shew the manner of Meditation which is so considerable a part of Religion and to serve also as a Succidaneum to those that have not the opportunity of larger Books which is all that was intended by the Collecter of them Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my Strength and my Redeemer Psal 19. I meditate on all thy works Ps 143.5 In his Law doth he meditate day and night Ps 1.2 The Letany of Christian Vertues taken out of the Holy Scripture and the several Texts Annexed O GOD the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us O God the Son Redeemer of the World Have mercy on us O God the Holy Ghost Have mercy on us O Sacred Trinity one God Have mercy on us O Lord just and good Heb. 11.6 and a rewarder of all those that seek thee diligently Have mercy on us Who createdst our First Parents in Innocency and Holiness Gen. 2. after thine own Image and gavest a Testimony to the offerings of just Abel Gen. 4. Have mercy on us Who savedst in the Ark from the Flood Gen. 7. Noah a Preacher of Justice and deliveredst from the Fire Just Lot vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked Gen. 19. Have mercy on us Who gavest the Promise to Abraham Gen. 22. found Faithful after many tryals Have mercy on us Gen. 29. Who deliveredst Jacob endued with a wonderful patience and confidence in Adversities from all evils and gavest a joyful end to thy Servant Job Job 42. that Pattern of Patience Have mercy on us Gen. 39. Who rewardedst the singular Modesty and Chastity of Joseph with the Rule over Egypt Gen. 41 Have mercy on us Num. 22. Who chosedst Moses the meekest Man upon Earth to be Ruler over thy People and Electedst Joshua Deut. 31. notable for Valour and Constancy to lead thy People into the Land of Promise Have mercy on us Who gavest the Priesthood to the Sons of Levi for their great Courage in vindicating thine Honour Exod. 32. and deliveredst from all dangers the Prophet Elias for his incomparable Zeal for thy true Worship against the false Prophets 1 King 18. 2 King 2. and at length tokest him up into Heaven Have mercy on us Who set Samuel Judge over thy People 1 Sam. 7 12 a lover of Justice and free from Bribes And liftedst up David 1 Sam. 16. a man after thine own heart in the faithful Service of thee to be King of Israel Have mercy on us Who replenishedst Solomon 1 King 4. humbly begging Wisdom of thee both with it and many other Graces And Adornedst Daniel and his Companions Dan. 1. being singularly Temperate and Sober with Wisdom and Beauty Have mercy on us Who didst chuse the Blessed Virgin Mary Luk. 1. Adorned with singular Chastity Humility Obedience and all other Vertues to be the Mother of thy Son Have mercy on us Mat. 3. Who sentest John Baptist a Forerunner of thy Son a Preacher of Penitence and of great Austerities and Abstinencies Have mercy on us John 17. 1 Pet. 2.21 Who sentest Jesus Christ thy only begotten Son into the World the Pattern of all Holiness that we should follow his Example Have mercy on us Eph. 1. Who hast chosen us in him before the Foundations of the World that we also should be Holy and Unblame able in thy sight Have mercy on us Who hast Predestinated us that we should be made conformable to the Image of thy Son Phil. 3. Eph. 2. and hast created us in him to good Works which thou hast ordained that we should walk in them Have mercy on us Who hast Redeemed us from our vain Conversation by the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. and hast Regenerated us by thy Word unto a lively hope of an Eternal Inheritance Have mercy on us O Jesu 1 Pet. 2. who knewest no Sin neither was Guile found in thy Mouth 1 Joh. 3. but appearedst to take away the Sins of the World Have mercy on us 1 Pet. 2. Jesus who barest our Sins in thy Body on the Cross that we being dead unto Sin may live unto Justice and Holiness Have mercy on us Col. 1. Who hast delivered us out of Darkness into Light from the power of Satan Acts 26. into thy Kingdom and hast bestowed upon us the Remission of Sins and an Inheritance amongst thy Saints Have mercy on us Mat. 19. Who promisedst thy Disciples that forsook all for thee Joh. 21. Twelve Thrones Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel who committedst unto St. Peter notably confessing and loving thee the feeding of thy Sheep Have mercy on us Joh. 20. Who vouchsafedst to St. John notable for Chastity the singular privilege of thy Love Have mercy on us Who sendest thy Holy Spirit Rom. whereby Divine Charity is spread abroad in our hearts Have mercy on us Be merciful and spare us O Lord Be merciful and
Christians much more than to the highest rank of them 1 Cor. 7.32 35. before the pleasures of Marriage to avoid the great Carefulness and Distractions that necessarily attend that State Even to those also that after enjoyment have left their Wives i. e. by mutual consent upon the same Spiritual account And when our Saviour saith There be some who have made themselves Eunuchs by embracing a Single Life for the Kingdom of Heavens sake i. e. For the better serving God in any way He who is able to receive it let him receive it what is it but a Recommendation to his followers particularly to his Disciples and Guides of his Church of that happier Condition And as to that popular pretence of multiplying the World and continuing a Succession of Generations that is not the care of Man but of God and Individual Persons as many as are so resolved in their minds may safely chuse the better State in order to their own greater happiness without fearing the ruine of the World to ensue And indeed our Saviour the fountain of all Purity by that Expression of making themselves Eunuchs seems to grant as St. Crysostome observes the power of living a Vertuous Single Life a life of Eunuchism to all sincere endeavourers And St. Paul also when he reckons up to his Corinthians his own good Actions and Labours 2 Cor. 6.6 inserts amongst them Pureness or Chastity which he would not have done if he had thought it the mere Gift of God without any concurrence or acquisition of his own Watchings and Fastings and Prayers If then those Married Persons are commended and promised a Reward who keep themselves within the bounds of Marriage chast from Adultery Uncleanness and all unlawful Carnal Pleasures and those also a higher Reward who Renounce the pleasures of Marriage and leave their Wives consenting thereunto for the Kingdom of Heavens sake that they may love God the more entirely with all their Heart all their Soul and all their Strength which is the great Commandment of all what shall be done with those Virgins that have with much pains and difficulty abstained not only from unlawful carnal Pleasures Fornication c. but also from the lawful those of Marriage It is certainly more Heroical as a Holy Man observes with Virgins wholly to repell the importunities of the Flesh than with the Married only lawfully to satisfie them A greater vertue to subdue than only to moderate the most Violent of our Passions Their reward therefore in Heaven must be proportionably greater answerable to the several greater Degrees of Purity to which they have here attained Of them it is said in the Revelations at least of those of the highest degree of Virginal Purity These are they who were not defiled with Women Rev. 14.4 for they are Virgins And they are there also called The first Fruits unto God and unto the Lamb And their Transcendent reward is They follow the Lamb whethersoever he goeth And of whom else is it said but of the most pure Virgin-Mother of our Lord That all Generations shall call her Blessed Luke 1.48 If it should here be objected That in this Discourse there is little or nothing said concerning the sins of the Flesh being also contrary to the Purity of the Soul as well as of the Body it is answered That such sins are more directly opposite to the purity of the Body as being committed in it and cannot be committed without it and are thence called the sins of the Flesh Care therefore being taken of the Purity of the Body the Purity of the Soul is included as to these sins Not but there are other sins called Spiritual more proper to the Soul and more directly opposite to its purity and more dangerous also because not so easily discernable by us as are the sins of the Flesh such as Pride Hypocrisy Ambition Envy Wrath Contentions of Argument Disobedience to Superiours Rebellion Witchcraft Curiosity of Science Schism Heresy and the like which together with their chief Remedies Humility Lowliness of Mind Submission of Judgment Contentedness c. would be sufficient matter for so many different Discourses And I might here insert how far an obstinate Blindness Ignorance or Errour in the Understanding and a Peevish Perversness in the Will may be said to be the chief if not the only Causes of these subtiler and more Spiritual wickednesses of the Soul But at present it shall suffice to have given some short account of the abominable sins of the Flesh and the sad Consequences thereof Superadding only which I could not omit what is so particularly markt out to us by St. Jude concerning Rebellion Jud. v. 8. The Heads and Contrivers of which he calls Filthy Dreamers that defile the Flesh despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities This Character is so plain that I need not point out the Persons concerned in it For who are these Filthy Dreamers but those who pretend Revelations and Illuminations from God to serve their own Lusts who forsaking the Guides and Governours God hath set over them and setting up for their own Passions either of Revenge or Covetousness or Ambition and the like and finding no encouragement either in God's Word or from good Men for what they do perhaps do perswade themselves at least pretend to others that they have new Advices new Instructions new Lights from Heaven And vainly puffed up in their Fleshly mind do think to shelter themselves and their wickedness under a pretext under the Fige leaves of Godliness and Spirituality till like Corah and his Company Dreaming themselves holy Num. 16.31 and offering to God false Fire they are suddenly swallowed up even before they can awake out of their filthy Dream I proceed next to the Cure and Prevention of the Sins of the Flesh by observing to the serious Reader some few useful Rules out of those many Prescribed by Pious and Learned Men for the direction of themselves and others CHAP. V. The first Rule Of our Affections Memory and Imagination FIrst we must endeavour to know our own Passions and Inclinations which if not rightly Governed do in a manner biass the Soul to what they please and are for that reason narrowly to be watcht especially the Passion of Love as being the very Source of all the rest For if our Love and Affection be once fixed and chained to any one object it grows then unruly All other Passions and Reason it self must give way to it Its Bands are strong Cant. 8.6 strong as death saith the Spouse in the Canticles Death that swallows all All our Faculties and Powers become Vassals to this Passion even our fears often proceed from our too great love it hurries them on and when not rightly placed it never stops but in our ruine Forcing us many times against our minds video meliora proboque deteriora c. to transgress our duty to God and our selves to lay aside our Liberty and Manhood
for he that stands must take heed least he falls Rom. 11.21 and be not high minded but fear we will not however abandon our selves to it but on the contrary renew and make stronger Resolutions against it with severer Penalties annexed and so valiantly continue on the fight till it shall please God to give us the Victory Such voluntary Mortifications are likewise Efficacious not only for the taming and keeping under the body but for the obtaining also from God by our thus siding and taking part with his Divine Justice against our sins the particular Gift and Grace of which we stand in need Some unclean Lust is not to be subdued Mat. 17.21 some Devil not cast out without Fasting as well as Prayer Our sparing Self-Mortifications is like sparing the Rod to the Child but the using of them is the ready way to prevent God's Judgments from falling upon us in particular or upon our Countrey for our sakes and by reason of our sins or to remove them when begun Thus Ezra and his People fasted and besought God Ezra 8.21 and he was entreated for them And so another time Queen Esther and the whole Jewish Nation just as they were going to be Massacred Est 4.16 were preserved by the same means of Fasting and Prayer The Ninevites also were spared upon the same account of their great Humiliation Jon. 3.10 And so the Prophet Daniel attained to so great Knowledge and Wisdom and so high a degree of the Divine Favour by his long fasting and mourning and praying for God's only Church and People Dan. 1.17 Dan. 10.3 And indeed I know no other way of stoping God's Judgments even when they are breaking out upon us than by thus applying our selves to Mollify his Justice that we may not fail of his Mercy But yet the greatest Humiliation of all and most Beneficial Jam. 5.16 is the telling our sins to one another as often as we commit them particularly to our Spiritual Pastors which will be apt to awe us if not hardned from sinning in that kind any more and our Pastor by his good Directions Prayers and the power with which Almighty God hath entrusted him is able with our concurrence to administer the best Remedy to all our sins And then another Person tho' he were not more Learned being no way concerned or interested in our Affairs must needs be more void of Passion more Impartial and Consequently can better Judge of us better Direct and Guide us than we our selves O that we could thus die to all things but God and take no pleasure but in Self-denials and Mortifications for the sake of Jesus From whence flows that Humility Purity of heart Mat. 5.8 to which our Saviour hath Emphatically annexed the Blessedness of seeing God! CHAP. VII The Third Rule Of the Occasions of grosser Sins THirdly We are to avoid the Occasions of the sins of the Flesh Some of them I shall name 1st The making Provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 Strong Meats strong Drinks high Sauces are not convenient as being many times very hurtful to the Memory and Understanding always heightening and disordering the Passions Be not drunk with Wine saith St. Paul to his Ephesians wherein is Excess Eph. 5.18 And in Excess a Man knows not what he does but is ready to go along with his Company and to commit with them the greatest lewdness and outrage whatsoever under the pretence of a Frolick Lev. 10.9 Wherefore Priests under the Old Law in the time of their Attendance on God in the Execution of their Function were forbidden such things And all Christians now are in some manner God's Priests Rev. 5.10 Great Caution therefore is to be taken of Invitations and publick Entertainments It is much safer to eat alone or with few and those Abstemious Persons And then rather mean Diet to be chosen than Delicacies poor Peoples Children we see thrive best often calling to mind the hard fare of our Lord and his poor Disciples whom he chose poor Who fed on Ears of Corn Barley-Bread Mat. 12.1 Joh. 6.9 Fish an Honey-Comb Water and the like and St. John Baptist upon Locusts and Wild-Honey and the holy Men of Egypt according to St. Jerom upon much harder Fare Often remembring also the All-satisfying Food promised us in Heaven which will keep us from ever hungering or thirsting any more Blessed are they that shall eat Bread in the Kingdom of God Luk. 14.15 Rev. 19.9 And Blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Lord evermore give us that Heavenly Bread that never perishes and that Heavenly Water also which shall be in us a well of Water Springing up to everlasting Life The great reason why we ought if we intend to avoid the sins of the Flesh to take particular care of living Temperate in our Diet and of observing frequent Fastings especially the Solemn Fasts of the Church is because by our Eating and Drinking the Flesh arms and furnishes it self as it were with new Provisions for fighting against the Spirit New Matter and Fuel is administred to Concupiscence and the Brain many times so heated as not to be able to make a right Judgment of things It was after a great Dinner when Herod for the sake of a filly Dancing Mar. 6.21 Girl consented to the beheading of the Venerable and Chast St. John Baptist as having been an open Enemy to his Incestuous Marriage It was in Drunkenness when Lot committed double Incest with his Two Daughters Gen. 19. Hos 4.11 Rom. 13.13 And we find all along in Scripture Drunkenness and Gluttony inseparable Companions of Lust And then the necessary Repairs of our Body returning so often we are obliged in a manner to be continually upon our Guard and to put a Knife to our Throat as the Wise Man adviseth that we be not overcome by our Appetite This Concupiscence in Eating and Drinking by reason of the dayly necessities of the Body is no such thing says St. Austin in his Confessions which we can resolve to cut off at once and touch no more as we may do other things Eat and Drink we must yet not to Excess The reins therefore of the Throat are to be held with a moderate hand between too little and too much And who is he O Lord says the same Father that is not sometimes transported beyond the Lists of Necessity Whoever he be a great one he is let him magnifie thy Name So that in one word our living temperate and watching over our Appetite so as to thwart it in every thing is the taking away the chief and most principal occasion of Lust and as I may say the quenching of it in its very Cause Fraena gulam c. Bridle your Appetite says Thomas a Kempie and you will the more easily bridle every Inclination of the Flesh To Temperance in Meat and Drink and frequent
Death of Christ 1 Cor. 15.3 2ly That to the applying the Merits of Christ's Passion to us there are required some Conditions on our part Phil. 2.12 namely our Assenting and Co-operating with God's Grace 3ly That by such Application not only our sins are remitted Eph. 2.5.4.25 but we receive the Grace of Regeneration changing us in our minds implanting us into Christ enabling us to good works Rom. 2.13 Joh. 1.12 to become doers of the Law Sons of God c. The manner of such our Regeneration and of the Divine Assistance is thus First Mat. 28.19 Eph. 5.26 When we are Baptized into Christs Church not only past sins are washed away supposing us rightly disposed thereunto but also a new Power and Ability Supernatural of Living holily for the future is conferr'd and superadded Tit. 3.5 c. Acts 11.16 The Holy Ghost being then personally given us and God's Grace Efficaciously planted in us for newness of Life Rom. 6.4.7.6 and bringing forth Good Works By the Assistance of this Grace therefore our corrupt Nature is so perfectly restored and made capable of all Vertue that we may and are obliged also therewith totally to subdue our Lusts so as to live free from the habit even of unclean thoughts Gal. 5.24 and from the commission of all unclean Acts at least of those greater before mentioned which we are sure from God's own Word exclude the Kingdom of Heaven By this new principle of Grace Eph. 5.5 which worketh with us and without which our working signifies nothing a real Holiness Facility to Good is conveyed into our Souls our Understanding is Illuminated so as readily to embrace the Holy Mysteries of Christ's Religion which are above it above it 's natural Knowledge and Reach and past it s ever finding out but by Revelation Our Will from time to time inspired with new and divine Affections and at length influenced at least in some Persons with an impatient Love of God above all other things And the same Holy Spirit which thus Acts and Assists within us interceeds also for us Rom. 8.26 with groans which cannot be uttered groans irresistably prevalent at the Throne of Grace To the first Grace therefore given us at our Baptism if we make a right use of it more and more is added to every one that hath improved his one Talent more shall be given Mat. 25.29 and he shall have abundance And sometimes to the same well-disposed Person are conferred several Talents several different Gifts for God's greater glory of the same Holy Spirit but yet the most excellent Grace which we are above all to covet 1 Cor. 12.31 as being that without which all other Graces signify nothing to us is 1 Cor. 13.13 Charity or the Love of God Which is the most effectual remedy of all our Lusts or false Loves and when once obtained does in a manner the whole work of a Christian it felf because by its secret Energy it centers all our Affections in our Lord so as sweetly to compell us to seek in all things a punctual Observance and conformity to his holy Will and in nothing to displease him with whom our Soul being ravished is sick of love for him and languisheth with a perpetual desire Cant. 5.8 either 1st of suffering for him thereby at once to shew the Truth of our love and to purify us as Gold in a burning Furnace Or 2ly of praying to Him the only way of Conversing with him upon Earth Or 3ly Of fully enjoying him in Heaven even though it were through Martyrdom it self Which great Vertue shined most Eminently in St. Mary Magdalen whose sins which were many were therefore forgiven her because she loved much And her chosing to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his words our Saviour himself calls the unum necessarium the better and sublimer part of a Christian which nothing can take away And albeit this love of God inferrs and comprehends the love of our Neighbour and of our selves and of all things that belong to God yet these not after the fashion of the World but only as consistent with and much encreasing and enflaming our love of God So that by shewing our love to God as we are obliged all the ways that we can we are continually enlivening and augmenting it and still think it little and unworthy of eternal life and that it is want of our Endeavours and not of God's Grace which hinders us from attaining still higher Spiritual Gifts and a more intense love of our Lord every little Inclination in us to any thing else if not throughly mortifyed being enough to retard our progress in this true way to perfection This one thing I do says St. Paul to his Philippians forgeting those things which are behind already obtained and reaching forward to those things which are before not yet obtained I press toward the Mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.13 And if so great an Apostle when he had so far attained as perhaps none farther in the Love of God and Self-mortifications witness his Watchings 2 Cor. 6.5.11.23 Fastings Labours Stripes Imprisonments Deaths was still pressing forward much more ought we to mend our pace who are so far behind so far from perfect Charity and perfect Chastity as to be still wallowing in our â—usts still hankering after the Gratifications of Sense We ought not only to be mindful of the powerful Assistances God hath afforded us to Purity and Holiness but also actually to make use of them for that very end and purpose those Assistances of the Holy Spirit being such as continually war against the Flesh Col. 3.1 stirring us up to seek those things that are above and supernatural and so after an ineffable manner if we endeavour to correspond to them unite us to Christ and God and bring down Heaven into our Souls quenching in us the thirst to all sensual Pleasures making them by degrees seem more and more contemptible to us and at length odious Quas sordes quae dedecora c. what filthiness did they Suggest what disgrace and dishonour says St. Austin in his Confessions concerning his formerly beloved but then much more hated Lusts The way therefore to experience the good of Christianity is resolutely to enter upon practising Christian Vertue by a more strict observance of Gods Laws and purging our selves from the contrary Vices For none how learned soever can truly know God but they that serve him And a poor Shepherd that faithfully serves him will by experience know more of God in his chiefest Excellencies than a Doctor of the Chair that does only talk of him And as the Grace of God is the principal Instrument of a good Christian Life so the next to that is frequent examining our Consciences once or twice a day that so we may learn to know by little and little how to
written and allowed of by the Ancient Fathers and the whole Church of God in all Ages And then as to the necessity of Prayer if we consider our many wants Temporal and Spiritual to be relieved many sins wherein we still offend God to be pardoned many Temptations and Dangers from which to be preserved many Benefits and Assistances received and all these with a respect also to our Fellow Christians we cannot but acknowledge every moment of our Lives had we no other necessary Duties too little to be spent in this one Great Duty of Continual Prayer 1 Thess 5.17 Our good Lord assist us by his Holy Spirit in the diligent and sincere performance thereof The other Chief Means of our obtaining Divine Assistances against our Lusts is 2ly Frequen Communicating as many good Christians now do and the Primitive Christians did almost every day I do not intend here to treat largely of this Holy Sacrament there being many good Books Written designedly on that Subject but only recommend to the Reader without medling with God's power therein which transcends all Humane Conception and Comprehension the Immense Benefit of this Holy Mystery to each worthy Communicant in reference to his particular Necessities For obtaining Remission of this or that Sin a Remedy of this or that Infirmity a Deliverance from this or that Affliction for receiving a Benefit or giving thanks for a Benefit received for helping our Neighbour for encreasing the Holy Spirit and Love of God in us Because as by one Spirit in Baptism We are made one Mystical Body of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 so likewise in the Eucharist are we made to drink into the partaking of one Spirit The Blessed Eucharist being as necessary for the continuing and encreasing as Baptism for the first receiving the Holy Spirit Because also this is that particular Nourishment instituted by Christ for the preserving our Body and Soul to Everlasting Life that particular Pledge and Assurance of our Resurrection that true Bread from Heaven which mystically also Incorporates us into Christ and makes us continue and grow up into perfect Members of his Body that so thus partaking of the Nature and Spirit of the Second Adam the Heir of all things we may become with him Sons of God Heirs of Eternal Life as we were by the First Adam of Eternal Death That true Heavenly Bread lastly so Exalting and Assimulating our Nature into Christ when worthily Communicating as to make us one with him as he and the Father are one According to our Saviour's Prayer when he was Instituting this Blessed Sacrament I pray thee Father John 17. that they may be one as we are one O Blessed Union between poor Man and his Maker O happy those Souls who here worthily feed on this Heavenly Bread the only true Nourishment of the Life of Grace enabling them in the Strength thereof to walk even to the Mount of God the Life of Glory The Conclusion THE Summ of this Discourse is The Sins of the Flesh are most dangerous because most natural to us And by reason of their filthiness most loathsome to Almighty God and most severely punished by him For not only those of the greater magnitude Fornication Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality are followed with God's most Tremendous Judgments but also we find in Scripture Vncleanness and Laciviousness Gal. 5.19 Eph. 5.3 destinct from the foregoing and of a less denomination every where joyned with such Sins as exclude the Practisers thereof from the Kingdom of Heaven The way to prevent such Sins and to avoid the punishment of them is To mortify our Passions our Memory and Imagination to beware of impure Suggestions cheirsh Holy Inspirations and avoid all the occasions of such Sins to Improve lastly the Grace of God in us by Assiduous Prayer daily Examination of our selves perfect Repentance frequent Communicating and all other holy means pressing still farther to higher and higher Gifts particularly to the attaining that most excellent Gift of Charity which makes us love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves hate even our own Lives for love of Him who first loved us undergoing the the greatest sufferings with Thankfulness and Complacency performing all our Actions on purpose to please him referring them to his Honour offering them up to his Praise and Glory To whom Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour Praise and Glory to all Eternity Amen God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 Grace and Truth i. e. means of Salvation came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him who dyed for them Gal. 4.6 2 Cor. 5.15 Wretched is that man who is all for the good things of this Life a good House good Apparel good Provision c. and is content to have a bad Soul Int. Christ Some Short Directions and Heads of Meditation for the Persons Concerned in the Preceeding Discourse CHAP. I. Of Meditation it's Requisites and how it differs from Contemplation MEditation is called the first Essential part of Prayer leading to Contemplation Thanksgiving Petition c. in which all the Principal Faculties of the Soul the Memory Vnderstanding Will and Affections are severally employed The Memory recollects the matter to be Meditated upon and also placeth the Soul in the Divine Presence The Vnderstanding judgeth of the Subject and its Vertues and accordingly proposeth it to the Will The Will excites in us divers Acts and Affections either of Love Affiance Gratitude c. towards God Or of Hatred Compunction desire of doing better c. towards our selves which is indeed the main Scope and end of Meditation Then follows our Praying and representing to Almighty God our Miseries Necessities Temptations which we most earnestly beg him to redress for his own Love and Compassion's sake and the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But when the Faculties of the Soul are unactive or slow in their Operations as it often happens they are to be excited by the help of good Books which ought always to be at hand when we Meditate and in all such holy exercise we are to approach the Divine Presence with our greatest Reverence and Humiliation And it is also necessary before every Meditation to make a strict Examen of Conscience 1. What Benefits we have received that day from Almighty God for which we are to return Thanks 2. What Sins we have that day committed running through every hour in thought word and deed for which we are to beg pardon 3. We are to resolve upon an amendment in every particular by the Grace of God After such strict Examination of all our Thoughts Desires Words and Works judging our selves that we be not judged of the Lord and Confessing our Sins in the bitterness of our Soul as the Church requires and taking also
God God himself Innocent c. What and how grievous things he suffered So many griefs So great Ignominy He hath born our griefs Behold the Man Behold and see were there ever sufferings like his And all this for his Enemies ungrateful sinners and me in particular to Reconcile them to God Reflect Oh the Obedience Humility Patience Perseverance Charity of his sufferings Wednesday What passed in the Garden His Agony His Soul was heavy even to Death He sweat drops of Blood He Prayed against the bitter Cup but with a Resignation to his Fathers Will. Thy will not mine be done And soon after with unparallell'd Fortitude surrendred himself If you seek me let these go their ways desiring to tread the Wine-press of God's Wrath alone Thursday Our Saviour's Vsage before Annas Caiphas Herod and Pilate Before Annas Questioned for his Doctrine In Caiphas's house false Witnesses were brought against him He was kept Prisoner there all Night Mockt by the Souldiers and others Denyed by Peter Before Herod despised Before Pilate first declared Innocent but afterwards Condemned by him for Treason to please the People and secure his own Interest with them St. Peter's Repentance very speedy But the Obstinacy of the Jews continues to this very day Friday Our Saviour's Vsage at the Pillar his Crown of Thorns his Journey to Mount Calvary bearing his Cross his barbarous Crucifixion the Wounds he received the sweet words he uttered Father forgive them c. yet the Rocks were more Compassionate than the Jews and We. Saturday Of our Saviours Burial Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea his Blessed Mother and St. Mary Magdalene and some other Honourable and Holy Persons were concerned in it They wash'd his Wounds with their holy Tears and Embalmed his Body with their Sighs and Prayers and Richest Odours He made his Sepulcher with the Rich and Honourable but yet the malicious Jews sealed the Stone and set a Watch to prevent if possible his rising again to Glory Sunday Of our Saviour's Resurrection Ascension and sending of the Holy Ghost 1. The manner of his Resurrection His Conversing Fourty days upon Earth Comforting his Freinds Strengthening his Disciples and giving them charge over his Flock 2. his Ascention into Heaven siting on the right hand of God that our Hearts and Affections might thither also ascend 3. His sending the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost his Disciples having Fasted Watch'd and Pray'd continually day and night for ten days before Reflect His Resurrection the first Fruits and earnest of ours His Ascension to draw us and our affections after him His sending the Holy Ghost that the same Spirit that raised up him the Head might also quicken us his Members CHAP. IV. Meditations for the fifth Week MOnday Of the Nobility of the Soul 1. Created by God after his own Image 2. God giveth his Angels Charge over it As the Hills stand about Jerusalem so standeth the Lord round about them that fear him 3. Of so great value is the Soul that our Saviour left the Bosom of his Father to redeem it even with the price of his Blood Tuesday Of a pure Conscience a right Faith and doing all things for God's Honour These Three constitute the good Christian for the Life we now live is by Faith And the pure in heart shall see God shall have a clear and more naked perception of him even in this Life No Image or Idea can represent a Spirit such as God is He is Purity it self perceptible only to the pure in Heart after an ineffable manner and void of all sensible Idea's Reflect The purging therefore our Consciences is to be carefully minded Wednesday Of the Presence of God With the thoughts of this so great Presence many holy Persons have preserv'd themselves from sin Enoch walked with God and was translated Abraham walked before God and was perfect King David set God always before him that he should not sin So Elijah and Elisha God liveth in whose sight and presence I stand And nothing more certain than that God filleth and worketh in all his Creatures In him we live and move and have our being and all things subsist and are upheld by his immediate hand But he more nearly dwells and inhabits in every good Man and directs him by the Interiour Language of his Inspirations and gives him leave also to Communicate to him as to a most faithful Freind all his Wants Desires Resolutions Infirmities Temptations c. And the oftner he recollects his Faculties from external objects and retireth into himself to God so much the better and his progress in holiness greater and more easy Reflect How great a folly therefore is it to live insensible of the Assistance of so great a presence so near us even within us Thursday Of the Conjunction of the Soul with God Which consists in a Conformity of our Will to the Divine We must Will the same thing with God and the same means to it My Son give me thy heart says God by Solomon It is good for me to cleave to God says David And St. Paul nothing could separate from Christ Neither Life nor Death c. 2. Such a Person is always Examining his Conscience Keep 's a strict guard that his thoughts wander not abroad or be over long busied in outward Affairs for fear of losing that presence that Consolation he always carries about with him in his Soul Prayers Meditation Contemplation Recollection the Holy Sacraments are in a manner the entertainment of his whole Life Reflect All these things are irksome and nauseous to the Carnal Worldly Man Friday Of Humility 1. The Humble man retains a true sence of God's Favours What great things he hath both done and suffered for him and that out of a free and most amazingly generous Goodness without any the least merit on his side And on the contrary what returns he hath made how many and how great wickednesses committed against that good God So that he knows not which way to turn himself Thinks no place vile enough for him who for his sins deserves the greatest Afflictions the greatest Torments He hath no way but to humble himself before God with Confusion of Face and Offer and Resign himself wholly to his boundless Mercy to deal with him as his Compassion pleases 2. The true Humble Man is Servant of all Especially his lawful Governours and Teachers to whose wiser Judgment he readily submits his own less wise As knowing they have more ability to judge than himself and more assistance also promised not to mistake To these therefore he submits as to Christ himself being commanded so to do Ezek. 33.7 8. Heb. 13.17 3ly Being contemned he rejoiceth being honoured he referrs the honour to God and so all other Benefits he receives But the shame of his sins he takes to himself and confesses with the poor Publican that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven 4ly What humilty can equal that of our Lord in all